Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.
.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

A63
SATURDAY,
OCTOBER 26,
2013
• Twitter: @GuardianTT • Web: guardian.co.tt
VALENCIA---Defending champion
David Ferrer will play former winner
Nicolas Almagro in the semifinals of
the Valencia Open after both
Spaniards won yesterday.
The top-seeded Ferrer beat Jerzy
Janowicz of Poland 6-4, 4-6, 6-0,
while the third-seeded Almagro
bounced back from a poor start to
down Fabio Fognini 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Ferrer used his speed and ground
game to overcome Janowicz s power-
ful serve with key breaks to finish the
first set and then start the third.
Also, Mikhail Youzhny outlasted
Finland s Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 6-7
(4), 6-4 in two hours, 21 minutes to
set up an all-Russian semifinal with
Dmitry Tursunov.
Tursunov ousted Jeremy Chardy of
France 6-3, 6-3.
Janowicz hit ten aces with speeds
reaching 238 kph (148 mph) on the in-
door hard court, but his serve also be-
trayed him. Two of his four
double-faults helped cost him two
service games, and on match point he
twice served into the net.
Ferrer, ranked No 3, kept scrambling
to keep the ball in play until he wore
Janowicz down, with one long rally
even sending Janowicz crashing into a
flower stand.
Fognini had a bright start up 3-0 and
a chance to serve out the first set be-
fore Almagro saved a set point in the
tiebreaker en route to finally going up
1-0. (AP)
LONDON---FIFA president Sepp
Blatter fiercely defended his integri-
ty in a speech to students yesterday,
maintaining he is not a "ruthless
parasite sucking the lifeblood" out
of football and claiming to be vic-
timised by critics who wished he
died at birth.
With FIFA still trying to repair its
reputation following a series of cor-
ruption scandals, Blatter used a
keynote address at Oxford University
in England to say he has become a
"scapegoat" for wrongdoing in foot-
ball.
The 77-year-old Swiss also tried
to dispel suggestions he was a plot-
ting from "Bond villain headquar-
ters" how to profiteer from World
Cups before "laughing all the way
to the bank."
FIFA released a copy of Blatter s
prepared speech at Oxford s debating
chamber yesterday, with reporters
not allowed access to the event.
Some of the harshest criticism
against Blatter has come from Eng-
land, and his speech comes at a time
when he appears to be paving the
way to run for a fifth term in 2015
despite initially pledging to step
down.
In highly-charged comments at a
debating chamber where many
prime ministers and heads of state
have spoken before, Blatter expressed
disbelief about why he is so loathed
by some in football.
"You ask yourself, What have I
done? Why has it come to this? "
Blatter said. "Is FIFA to blame for
everything? Are we not just a football
organisation working for the good
of the game? How did it come to
this?
"People like a scapegoat, of course,
but how could things have become
so twisted? As you can see, I am not
some overbearing bully who can
intimidate my critics with one look
and strong arm governments to my
will...I am a servant of football. Not
a dictator."
FIFA s reputation has been dev-
astated over the last three years by
corruption scandals---many uncov-
ered by British-based journalists---
that have led to several members of
Blatter s executive committee being
forced out in disgrace before and
after two much-scrutinised votes
on World Cup hosts. An ethics inves-
tigation continues into the process
that led to the 2018 World Cup being
awarded to Russia and the 2022 tour-
nament to Qatar.
"Perhaps you think I am a ruthless
parasite sucking the lifeblood out of
the world and out of football," Blatter
said. "The Godfather of the FIFA
gravy train."
Blatter said his entire life since a
troubled birth has been a fight,
although he believes some of his
fiercest critics might wish he never
survived.
"I very nearly did not make it past
birth ... even then, as a helpless baby
struggling for life, there were some
people who were against me," Blatter
said. "My grandmother advised my
mother to let me go. To not try to
save me because it was not worth
the trouble...Looking back, perhaps
some of my friends in the British
media might have agreed whole-
heartedly with my grandmother."
While often portraying himself as
thick-skinned, Blatter presented
himself as an executive tormented
by media criticism.
"You would have to have a heart
of stone for it not to hurt," he said.
Blatter is in England to attend the
English Football Association s 150th
anniversary dinner today---which will
also be attended by leading British
football journalists.
"I know I am far from perfect and
that we at FIFA must always look
to get better at what we do," Blatter
said, outlining how governance
reforms have been pushed through
after some executives "tarnished
FIFA s good name."
While accepting that some crit-
icism is fair, Blatter set out to chal-
lenge perceptions about the "secrets
and intrigue" surrounding the gov-
erning body.
"You may think you know what
FIFA is. What it does. What it aspires
to be," Blatter said. "A faceless
machine printing money at the
expense of the beautiful game, with
me pulling the strings and laughing
all the way to the bank.
"There are those who will tell you
that football is just a heartless,
money-spinning game or just a
pointless kick about on the grass.
There are those who will tell you
that FIFA is just a conspiracy, a scam,
accountable to nobody."
Continuing in that vein, Blatter
reeled off other negative stereotypes
people have about world football s
leadership.
"There are those who will tell you
of the supposed sordid secrets that
lie deep in our (James) Bond villain
headquarters in the hills above
Zurich, where we apparently plot to
exploit the unfortunate and the
weak," Blatter said. "They would
have you believe that I sit in my
office with a sinister grin, gently
stroking the chin of an expensive,
white Persian cat as my terrible side-
kicks scour the earth to force coun-
tries to host the World Cup and to
hand over all of their money.
"You might laugh. It is strange
how fantasy so easily becomes con-
fused with fact."
He also directly addressed alle-
gations of financial misappropriation,
which resurfaced following the votes
to award World Cups to Russia and
Qatar.
"Contrary to what you might have
heard, FIFA does not expect host
nations to hand over suitcases of
cash to FIFA," Blatter said. "We do
not ask for billions of dollars in public
money and then bury it all in the
Alps."
Blatter, who has never disclosed
his salary, wants FIFA to get more
credit for being financially trans-
parent.
"We are not an unscrupulous
multinational company doing every-
thing they can just for the sake of
making money, selling products that
do you harm, exploiting people just
for the sake of the profit of a few,"
Blatter said.
The profit generated by World
Cups and distributed to national
federations help keep more than half
of FIFA s 209 member associations
afloat, according to Blatter.
"You might have been led to
believe FIFA is the evil Sherriff of
Nottingham of football," he said.
"But the truth is we have more in
common with Robin Hood. Taking
the money we get from our com-
mercial partners and ploughing it
back into the grassroots of the game
for all to benefit." (AP)
Blatter: I'm not a ruthless parasite
Ferrer to play Almagro in semis at Valencia
Joseph Sepp Blatter, FIFA president, looks on during the FIFA World Cup 2014 group E qualifying football match
between Switzerland and Slovenia at the Stade de Suisse stadium in Bern, Switzeland, last Tuesday. Blatter claims
that he is being victimised by critics. AP PHOTO